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Finale Percussion font
The Finale Percussion font includes icons to represent a wide variety of percussion instruments, mallets, techniques, and unique notations. These pictograms, developed in 1974 by a conference of more than eighty musicians representing seventeen countries, are favored by publishers like Southern, TRN, and others because they allow for immediate recognition across language barriers. Some pictograms, such as castanets, vibraslap, and cannon, are unique to the Finale Percussion font, and in some cases alternate versions are provided.
Characters marked with a dagger (†) "dovetail" when they are repeated; for example, repeating the character (SHIFT + 9) results in a continuous .
Keystroke | Character | Description | With SHIFT | Character | Description | With OPTION | Character | Description | With OPTION+SHIFT | Character | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | swing down (handbells) | ! | gyro (handbells), scrape around rim | narrow wavy line segment† | |||||||
2 | swing up (handbells) | @ | pluck lift (handbells) | sawtooth line segment† | |||||||
3 | damp (handbells) | # | damp, alternate (handbells) | wide wavy line segment† | |||||||
4 | martellato (handbells) | $ | swing (handbells) | wide sawtooth line segment† | |||||||
5 | muted martellato (handbells) | % | table single handbell | ||||||||
6 | hand martellato (handbells) | ^ | N/A | N/A | narrow wavy line segment† | ||||||
7 | martellato lift (handbells) | & | table pair of handbells | quasi-random squiggle, alternate† | |||||||
8 | mallet, bell on table (handbells) | * | N/A | N/A | quasi-random squiggle† | ||||||
9 | mallet lift (handbells) | ( | constant circular motion segment† | Vietnamese hat cymbal | |||||||
0 | echo (handbells) | ) | constant circular motion segment (large)† | finger cymbals | |||||||
; | hand | : | fingernail | sistrum | vibraslap | ||||||
a | bass drum, soft mallet | A | tam-tam | wind chimes | temple blocks | ||||||
b | guiro scraper | B | cowbell | ||||||||
c | metal hammer | C | guiro | anvil | suspended cymbal | ||||||
d | bass drum, hard mallet | D | cabasa | maracas | |||||||
e | timpani, hard mallet | E | tenor drum | crotales | |||||||
f | bass drum, double mallet | F | maracas | slide whistle | goblet drum (djembe, doumbek) | ||||||
g | snare sticks | G | glockenspiel | siren | |||||||
h | jazz sticks (plastic tip snare sticks) | H | vibraphone | cannon | |||||||
i | hard sticks (wood or plastic heads) or xylophone, wood mallet | I | bass drum (on side) | conga | |||||||
j | brass mallet | J | xylophone | log drum | |||||||
k | rawhide hammer | K | marimba | ||||||||
l | triangle beater | L | pitched mallet instrument | ratchet | wind machine | ||||||
m | bow | M | board clapper (whip or slapstick) | tubular bells | |||||||
n | spoon-shaped wooden mallet | N | sizzle cymbal | gong with button (nipple) | |||||||
o | yarn, soft beater | O | tambourine | gong | brake drum | ||||||
p | yarn, medium beater | P | timpani | ||||||||
q | timpani, soft mallet | Q | snare drum (snares off) | timbales | thunder sheet | ||||||
r | timpani, wood mallet | R | field drum (or military drum) with snares on | bongo | car horn | ||||||
s | bass drum, medium mallet (or chimes mallet) | S | wood block | bell | sandpaper blocks | ||||||
t | xylophone, soft mallet | T | crash cymbals | gunshot | |||||||
u | xylophone, hard mallet | U | bass drum | police whistle | |||||||
v | wire brushes | V | hi-hat | ||||||||
w | timpani, medium mallet | W | snare drum | lion's roar | |||||||
x | rim shot | X | sleigh bells | ||||||||
y | xylophone, medium mallet | Y | triangle | almglocken | castanets | ||||||
z | knitting needle | Z | claves | tom-tom | |||||||
[ | yarn, hard beater | { | N/A | N/A | bell plate | cymbal tongs | |||||
] | finger | } | N/A | N/A | hammer | duck call | |||||
\ | fist | | | N/A | N/A | slit drum | ||||||
= | + | mallet bell suspended (handbells), rim shot | |||||||||
- | _ | drumstick (for cymbal strike location) | constant circular motion segment (flipped)† | constant circular motion segment (flipped, large)† | |||||||
, | at center (Ghent) | < | at center | klaxon horn | |||||||
. | right hand (Agostini) | > | at normal position | ||||||||
/ | at rim (Ghent) | ? | at rim | hi-hat cymbals on stand | wind whistle (or mouth siren) | ||||||
` | flexatone | ~ | N/A | N/A | |||||||
' | N/A | N/A | " | N/A | N/A | chimes | bird whistle |